The Odisha Vikash Conclave (OVC) 2025 positioned itself as one of India’s most significant multi-stakeholder platforms shaping the country’s long-term climate and development agenda. Held in Bhubaneswar with over 600 participants on November 26 and 27, the Conclave brought together decision-makers, civil society organisations, NGOs, private-sector leaders, academicians, knowledge experts, grassroots institutions and development practitioners at a time when India is accelerating its push toward Viksit Bharat 2047.
Organised by the Odisha Development Initiative (ODI) and co-organised by Centre for Youth and Social Development (CYSD), civil society networks, academic partners, private-sector actors and multilateral agencies including United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the two-day event focused on operationalising Odisha Vision 2036 through five thematic pillars (ecosystem protection, just transitions, resilient governance, vulnerability reduction and social leadership) and 15 sessions, outlining a people-centric and climate-resilient pathway for Odisha by 2036 that aligns naturally with India’s ambition of becoming a robust, equitable and climate-secure nation by 2047.
Manoj Ahuja, Chief Secretary, Government of Odisha, set the tone for the deliberations by emphasising the centrality of shared leadership. He noted that “Odisha’s development journey hinges on deep collaboration across sectors, with community-based organisations and inclusive academic engagement driving real change.” This call for sectoral convergence mirrored the Conclave’s core objective of strengthening participatory and decentralised planning across the state’s diverse landscapes, where community institutions, Panchayats, civil society bodies and government departments work together through shared data systems, interoperable information platforms and collaborative decision-making.
Addressing deep-rooted vulnerabilities, Dr Jagadananda, Co-founder, CYSD, highlighted that the state’s development narrative must place the most marginalised at the centre. “A poverty-free Odisha will require us to confront last-mile challenges. The state must recognise the harbingers of last-mile challenges. It must recognise the plight of the poorest of the poor.” he said, reiterating the need for localised resilience systems that ensure development responses reach communities most exposed to climate and economic shocks.
A central recommendation emerging from OVC was the institutionalisation of Multi-Actor Platforms (MAPs) at the block, district and state levels. Speakers noted that regime-level actors must move beyond siloed functioning, as collaboration is no longer a governance ideal but an operational necessity. Shared systems, they argued, are essential for generating community-rooted evidence capable of informing coherent action across departments.
Dr. Sisir K. Pradhan of the Common Ground Initiative highlighted that “Gram Panchayat-level climate–disaster assessments, women-led enterprises, green taxonomy work, and shock-responsive social protection—all of which are central to India’s emerging national development frameworks for 2047.” Participants agreed that Odisha’s 2036 vision and India’s 2047 ambition will only be achieved through shared systems, shared messaging, and shared action that draw equally from state-level innovation and grassroots leadership.
Across sessions, the Conclave underscored that climate resilience must be treated as development itself, not a trade-off, reflecting Odisha’s status as one of India’s most climate-vulnerable states. Discussions stressed that women and youth must become the “growth engines” of the state’s economy, that urban spaces must be reimagined to reflect cultural identity and climate preparedness, and that India’s transition to a green economy will succeed only when communities remain at the centre of planning.
The Conclave’s recommendations, spanning just transitions, climate-smart public services, digital public goods, basin-level governance, resilient urbanisation and women-led economic participation, offer a coherent prototype for aligning state-level visions with national aspirations. In doing so, discussions demonstrated how evidence-driven governance, grassroots leadership and collaborative infrastructure can jointly power the next era of India’s development and contribute meaningfully to the country’s long-term trajectory toward Viksit Bharat 2047.
